Learn to be Lonely
by keep-me-posted
Summary: Christine and the Phantom reunite for the last and final time. POTO SongFic/OneShot.


Okay everyone, go easy on me, 'cuz not only is this my first POTO FanFic, but it's also my first SongFic ever.

I love this movie so much, and I really wanted to make a little something with the ending, like how Raoul was feeling when he saw the rose, and if the Phantom was actually there the whole time.

It turned out a little too short, and, no joke, while I was writing this, Learn to be Lonely came on My Library (it was on shuffle). So I decided to stick it in there somehow.

I do not own POTO, only the Two-Disc Special Widescreen Edition DVD. (Took me _forever_ to find that version of it, lol)

* * *

_Child of the wilderness…_

The elderly man stepped out of his vehicle carrying the barrel organ with the figure of a monkey placed on top, on which he'd just bought for 30 francs earlier that day at an auction.

_Born into emptiness…_

His driver offered the man his wheelchair, bringing it forward to him, but Raoul refused. After all, it was only a few steps to where he wanted to go.

_Learn to be lonely…_

He walked slowly to the grave, her grave, listening intently to the wind in his ears, and the leaves crinkling below his feet.

_Learn to find your way in darkness…_

With shaking hands, Raoul placed the barrel organ upon Christine's grave. He choked back tears as he read over her gravestone once more, as he did every Friday morning.

_Who will be there for you…_

Even with the proof in front of him, he found it hard to believe she was no longer a being on this earth. He still felt her presence with him everywhere he went.

_Comfort and care for you…_

He paid his respects, and turned to go back to his empty life, when something glistening on his left caught his eye.

_Learn to be lonely…_

There, beside his late wife's grave, was a single red rose, with a black ribbon wrapped around it. The sun was bouncing off the jewelry attached to the flower.

_Learn to be your one companion…_

Despite how many years it had been, he knew that ring. It was the engagement ring he had given Christine at the Masquerade Ball.

_Ever dreamed out in the world…_

She had said she lost it when they escaped the sewers of the opera house so many years ago, but it seems someone found it, and kept it all these years.

_There are arms to hold you…_

His head shook from the surprise of seeing it here at her grave, so long after, connected to a rose, with a black ribbon tied around it. His trademark. The Phantom's trademark.

_You've always known…_

Hesitantly, Raoul searched around the graves, looking for a glimpse of him. It couldn't have been him. Could it?

_Your heart was on its own…_

He leaned towards her grave, ready to grab hold of the rose and toss it over the graveyard's fence, to rid of it and all the problems of the past, but something pulled him back.

_So laugh in your loneliness…_

It wasn't a physical pull, but a mental one. No matter who or what left it there, it had already touched the grave. Her grave. He didn't want to disturb it anymore than he had to.

_Child of the wilderness…_

With that thought in mind, Raoul blew a soft kiss towards the stone picture of Christine, forcing the wrinkles on his face up to give her a smile.

_Learn to be lonely…_

He lipped the words "I love you" to the heavens, and slowly walked back to his automobile, his two followers closely behind.

_Learn how to love…_

The elderly man was helped into the car and they drove off into the day, leaving a trail of dust behind them. Raoul glanced through his rearview mirror as long as he could, before her grave was completely out of sight.

_Life that is lived alone…_

The graveyard was silent again, when suddenly a figure peeked out from behind Christine's grave. A figure all in black, limping a bit, as he walked to the front.

_Learn to be lonely…_

His hand, covered by a leather black glove, ran over the indentation on the gravestone. His hand then traveled down to the barrel organ, and he twisted it up, causing it to play the familiar tune and fill the graveyard with music.

_Life can be lived…_

Then, without another word, The Phantom sat on the ground beside Christine's grave, with his head hung low. His breaths becoming shorter and shorter, each second.

_Life can be loved…_

Moments afterward, the music had stopped flowing from the barrel organ, and the Phantom's breathing had stopped flowing from his mouth. The graveyard was quiet again. And everything, and everyone, in it was still.

_Alone._

* * *

I hope you liked it. I'm want to make more of these, 'cuz I think they are really cute, and this one was fun to do, but if you don't like it, let me know, before I start writing more, lol.


End file.
